European markets have rebounded after US President Trump postponed strikes on Iran’s power plants saying the US had held “productive discussions” about a halt to the aerial war it launched with Israel on 28 February. From an intra-day low of 9,672 at 10.50am, the FTSE 100 rallied 2.8% to 9,943 at 12.45pm as stocks, including many investment companies, recovered from earlier losses. The rebound left the blue-chip index just 25 points below Friday’s close of 9,918, but 8.8% below the all-time high of 10,910 it stood at on 27 February.

Spire Healthcare (SHI), the private hospital provider backed by four Harwood Capital funds, including investment company activist Achilles (AIC), has said it is no longer in takeover talks with Bridgepoint and Triton. The news sent its shares tumbling 19% to a five-year low of 153.8p, although the company said it remained in discussions with other parties.

Gore Street Energy Storage Fund (GSF) declared a special dividend of 1.5p per share, completing the 3p per share pay-out linked to the sale of US tax credits. This is in addition to the 1.75p dividend third quarter dividend announced by the battery fund last week.

Abrdn European Logistics Income (ASLI) has just two assets left to sell in its 20-month wind-down after disposing of a warehouse in Noves, near Avignon, for €47.5m in line with the third quarter valuation by Savills. This is the 25^th disposal since the wind-down was approved by shareholders in July 2024. The two remaining assets remain subject to due diligence by potential buyers. Last month DL Invest failed to convince shareholders to halt the wind-down and pass it the mandate for reviving the real estate investment trust.

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